Looped
by Icesekki
Summary: Repeating an entire day... Forever? That's what it seemed like for Natsu, trying to understand his nightmare. What could he change? Could he save her?
1. Chapter 1

A/N:  I found this story that I wrote a long time ago, I figure I better share it. I don't think it's finished yet, but enjoy it anyway!

~icesekki

 **Chapter 1 Just a Dream**

 _It was a mistake…. a careless action on his part. It was actually more complicated than that. The simple fact was that he, Natsu Dragneel, was just having a nightmare that was all. If he hadn't complained would it have even occurred…. No, if he would have stayed at the guild…. It was all his fault. Lucy…. It was his fault. She lay dying because of him, he was too careless this time. Why can't he save her? If he hadn't opened his mouth… if only he dodged it… if only it was that simple._

A thump could be heard as a familiar exceed preyed upon his sleeping friend at the bar. He fell asleep there that night and never went home. Caught in an unnatural dream where he mumbled in tears. At first Happy wasn't sure what was happening, but one thing he knew for certain was that he wasworried. Natsu was worried about Lucy.

"Natsu are you going to wake up?" he spoke to his pink haired dragonslayer.

Natsu was awake, but for some reason he felt nauseous and dizzy. Somehow his dream got to him, is all he figured. He heard Happy loud and clear, but it was somehow distant and unimportant. He was thinking for a moment in his life.

 _Why does everything seem familiar?_

"Natsu! Lucy is going to eat you!" Happy yelled into his ear. It was his last attempted to get his friend up and running before Lucy actually attempted to eat him, as scary as she was.

"I'm up little buddy." He mumbled into the counter. He soon forgot his nauseating feeling in his stomach and the dizziness than swept him before as he stood up. He took a few deep breaths and remembered.

"Lucy's rent is almost due isn't it?" he concluded to his exceed.

"Aye." Happy mumbled. "She always gets grumpy when she has no money."

A small smirk appeared on Natsu's lips as he raised his hands for a stretch. "Let's go ask her to pick a job!"

The duo bee lined for the door. Even if they were a little rambunctious about getting there, that didn't stop Natsu. Before reaching the door he took another deep breath and as he did a flash suddenly appeared in his head.

He wasn't sure what he saw, but he knew in his head that something bad was going to happen and he didn't know why he knew.

 _Maybe it was his dragonslayer instinct kicking in?_

The feeling vanished quickly as the door to the guild opened and Lucy walked in. He didn't even get the chance to make it to the door. Whatever it was that he saw he didn't want to think about it. It was highly unlikely that anything from his dream this morning would happen, even if it was odd.

"Earthland to Natsu! Lucy is over there." Happy pleaded against the blanked out Natsu.

Once Natsu came to, he realized he been more out of it than he thought. His excitement from earlier seemed to vanish after the flash.

 _Maybe he was just hungry._

Before starting toward Lucy he cleared out his earlier thoughts to focus. Lucy needed rent money. He could practically feel the melting of his brain from thinking too much.

"Luce, it's your turn to pick a job!" he cheered. Somehow knowing her response he quickly made his way over to the Request Board.

Lucy scanned the spans of overly ridiculous requests and increasingly difficult monster hunts, she settled for one in town. Just enough to cover the rest of the rent she needed to earn. She pulled it off the request board and showed it to Natsu.

"Bandits huh? Cool. Might get to do some fighting! Right ,Happy? Natsu praised.

"Aye sir!"

 **After the job…**

"That job sucked!" Natsu whined. He wasn't expecting anything tough, but the job was completely ridiculous. The job called for body guards, but there was no need for protection. No bandits appeared, leaving the mages with no job to do and not a single coin to show for it. Although the single pleased member of the group was Happy, who got a fish from the client in apology.

"There wasn't any butt kicking." Natsu continued to pout.

"There wasn't any rent money." Lucy cried.

"There was fish!" Happy pointed out.

"Shut up!" Natsu and Lucy moaned in unison.

The streets of Magnolia were quiet and peaceful, although the dragging of feet could be heard from the small group. Natsu found it to be too quiet. He felt his body tensing on instinct, as if to prepare for something to happen. Something he had a gut feeling about. His adrenaline was rising and flashes plagued his mind as he walked, easily appearing on his face.

 **Flashback**

"I have to… save her this …time" Natsu cried out. He was in pain, excruciating pain. A growl of fury washed upon his face toward anyone who'd dare hurt Lucy.

That was exactly what they were doing.

He had just come to grips with his reality as he stared at the blood covering the cobble streets; Blood that he assumed to be his own. A pulsating headache swept through him as he wobbled to lift himself.

"Let go of her!" he screamed. His head not agreeing with the set of movements pulsated once more like a thunderstorm's lightingtrying to blast through his skull. For some reason his surroundings got more and more blurry as he stared at Lucy. Tears formed from the corners of his eyes.

He remembered:

Lucy had died today.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2 Never ending pain**

"Natsu are you okay?" a familiar voice spoke at Natsu.

It was clearly obvious. Natsu was , for lack of any better words, not himself.

 _Why… why is this happening? What is causing this? Why does he know she is about to die?_

"Natsu" she called

 _How many times… did this happen? He remembered thinking this before. How could he… stop it?_

"Natsu, You want my fish? Happy called out.

Opening his eyes Natsu could feel the numbness that seemed to spread through his body. He was confused to say the least. He felt sick, sick to his stomach.

 _This day… it has repeated._

" _How many times?" he asked himself_

His eyes became blurry, so much so that Lucys golden hair turned into a blurry mound. He was crying without any cause.

 _Or every cause._

"Natsu?" Lucy now worried about her best friend.

"Natsu, hey!"

"Natsu!"

He wasn't sad. He was angry. He was angry at himself. He was supposed to save her. All the memories of her dying came tenfold.

 _Why did he remember now of all times? How many times had he done the same thing over and over, being too block- headed to notice?_

He wondered why it is that he had to watch her death repeat. He tried desperately to fight off the tears so he could see her. So this time he could save her. He heard her pleas and jabbing of her finger into his bicep. But it was more than he could handle.

 _Who watches_ _their best friend die, and even worse ,_ _more than once?_ _Why?_

"Natsu, please tell me you got dirt in your eye or something! Just answer me!?" Lucy begged

 _If only it were just dirt_

"Sorry.", was all that he could muster. Normally he would've tried to cover it up with an excuse, but…

"Is that all you're going to say?" Lucy argued gently.

 _What was he supposed to say?_ ' _Luce_ _I'm going to save you?'_

He whispered in a low voice that was hard to understand. He turned his head a few times, trying to figure out exactly what the danger was. Natsu couldn't afford to waste any time now answering questions. He could always answer her after she was safe.

For a split second he thought he saw someone out of the corner of his eye and immediately turned to face him, but when he came to face that direction no one was there.

He turned again.

Again.

All he saw was Lucy and Happy. The smell wasn't different. It didn't feel like any danger was approaching. Maybe it wasn't approaching at all. Maybe it was already there. It was causing him to panic. He turned around on his feet searching for someone, anyone. He couldn't find a scent anywhere other than Lucy and Happy's

 _How was that possible?_

Given the circumstance, it was a city. People are everywhere. He yelled furiously into his mind.

"I think Natsu has gone bonkers…" Happy sighed

There was something that was going to happen. If only he could remember that much. If he knew, then he wouldn't be so cautious. After all it was the middle of the street. Anything could happen. The wind seemed to escalate the situation, ruffling his hair and Lucy's scent thrashing across his nose, blocking everything else.

 _Could he prevent it?_ … _more_ _like… Why should he have to prevent it?_

Lucy was still speaking to him. Something was wrong, that much she could deduce by his low growl every time he shifted. What was she supposed to do? The breeze was strong and she thought about leaving for the guild once or twice. Natsu was being a little more than odd, maybe she needed help.

"Happy."she called to the Exceed.

Happy was just as startled about Natsu's behavior. He too wondered if they needed help containing or helping Natsu. Whichever came first.

Happy bolted on cue from Lucy to the guild to find help.

Growling, fury and annoyance he tried to turn his head ways to see the person he knows he saw once before. It was rather hard to see, much less hear, if someone was coming.

Natsu jumped slightly at the shift in breeze and a voice in the direction of his ear.

"Come out!" he yelled.

"I'm sick of this game!" he growled.

"What are you talking about Natsu?" Lucy said from behind him. She was more confused than she was to begin with. Her distance from Natsu was four steps max.

That's all it took.

That's all THEY needed.

Natsu turned his head to answer her. His world seemed to stop. The breeze, his breath, his gaze, his world.

The person seemed to note Natsu's hesitation on the matter as the figure cloaked in black robes and covered in wraps grinned wickedly. He started to laugh in a menacing laugh as if it was timed perfect, down to the last millisecond. It was so unnatural and demonic that Natsu could only stare as reality crashed.

Natsu almost twitched as he suddenly felt a hand grabbing his shoulder with an incredible force and turning him away from Lucy. It was just a moment. An instant. A flash. A memory.

Lucy was screaming.

 _Why?_

He had just come to grips with his reality as he stared at the blood covering the cobble streets; Blood that he assumed to be his own. A pulsating headache swept through him as he wobbled to lift himself.

"Let go of her!" he screamed. His head not agreeing with the set of movements pulsated once more like a thunderstorm's lighting trying to blast through his skull. For some reason his surroundings got more and more blurry as he stared at Lucy. Tears formed from the corners of his eyes.

It had happened as he remembered it, just moments ago.

He stiffened for a second as he tried to move toward her. This person was laughing at him but a second ago. It was a voice that cared not for his life or Lucy's.

 _It's a game isn't it?_

He heard voices in the background. Maybe it was him going crazy, but he swore it was Gray and Erza. He couldn't get a hold of those voices though and managed to scream the first thing on his mind.

"Lucy!"


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 Repeat

"Natsu are you going to wake up?" a familiar exceed spoke to his pink haired dragonslayer.

He was awake. Yes. More awake than he was last time and ten times more pissed off. There was no game he wanted to play that resulted in Lucy's death.

 _Never._

"You were mumbling Lucy's name in your sleep." the worried exceed said to his unresponsive friend.

 _"How many times have I repeated today? HOW MANY!"heyelled in his head_

"Lucy is going to eat you Natsu!" Happy yelled into his ear. It was his last attempted to get his friend up and running before Lucy actually attempted to eat him, as scary as she was.

"I'm up little bud…dy…" he hesitated.

 _It was what he said yesterday…..well not yesterday but the last, today, if that made any sense at all to him._

"Lucy needs rent money." Natsu said in gloom. Not even a slight bit of excited peered onto his face.

"Aye." Happy replied. He dropped mentioning her being grumpy, as he would've have done if Natsu didn't seem to be sad.

"Did you have a nightmare, Natsu?" he asked as he hovered behind his friend walking to the door.

 _It's more than a nightmare_.

"Yeah."

Once at the door to the entrance, Natsu hesitated. It was either he was early or she was late. He was furious about this whole situation. At best, he could hope that today would be different. But in truth he didn't know how to tell the extent of what would happen. He couldn't count the times the day had repeated previous. He was at least up to three now. He didn't feel dizzy or nauseous like last time nor did he stare into blank space like before. He felt a little relived that he wasn't a block head this time around. Gray would be jealous.

It was odd that it took him that much longer before to wake up. Lucy was already at the guild when he snapped out of it before.

A low thud sound caught his eye in a panic as he turned his head.

Much to his relief, it was just Happy. He didn't know how he was going to get out of this jiddery and jumping at everything that moves instinct.

"Earthland to Natsu! Lucy's over there!" Happy repeated. It didn't catch Natsu the first time. He was distracted to the point where he had to drop a pot to get his attention.

That was his cue at least.

As usual the job Lucy picked was completely a drag. Okay he didn't really pay attention the last time on the job, so he really didn't know which one not to go on.

He only remembered that there was no fighting. He was so distracted at what was going to happen, he forgot what actually happened, much to his dismay. It was one of the worst feelings, not one of them.

The worst feeling in the world.

 _Could he even stop it? Did he have a choice?_

"Could have chosen a better job." he muttered out loud. Although it was purely on accident, it was the truth. There was a ton of 'what if' situations. He guessed the real question was.

 _Why didn't he pick the job? Or rather, why did they have to go? Isn't there another way?_

* * *

"You try picking the job next time, jerk." Lucy grumbled

"At least there was fish!" Happy explained

 _Even if he tried, which he was going to , would she still die?_

He still knew that one thing was certain. He was going to try like hell to make sure she didn't die this time.

 _That much he knew without a doubt._

"Shut up, Stupid cat!" Lucy yelled furiously.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4 Failure has a new plan**

 _Failed._

 _Failed._

 _Failed._

He couldn't doubt in his mind he couldn't do anything. He failed. He could think victory all he wanted, but the fact is: Lucy was going to die, Right there; Right in front of him, in the middle of the street. Next to the fountain he passed last time she was going to die, Again.

 _Could he stall and wait for Gray and Erza?_

 _No, he'd bleed out before he even could speak._

It was all his fault. Somehow, someway, he could've and should've known better. He failed. Lying in a pool of his own blood, again.

Dizzy, again.

He could hear Lucy screaming his name, again.

 _Why again? What kind of game is this?_

"Who… are…" he managed to grasp.

"Lu….cy." he whispered as Lucy screamed. Images in his mind began to play tricks from his impact to the floor. He tried wobbling up to his knees. His memories were faint of ever making it this far, he wasn't going to give up on her.

 _Never._

Natsu clentched his teeth to bare the pain of what he had to endure. It was almost futile as his hands had to grab at his stomach to keep from pouring out. He could barely keep his focus. It was making it hard to breath but at this point furthering his progress is what mattered.

He could hear the laughter starting to burst out from the man's grin once again.

 _He was laughing at him._

The darkness consumed him. Natsu could've sworn he was the one dying. It was almost a joke to say he'd die first this round but he could hear the voices of Erza and Gray.

His hands showed proof he was further than last time. Ignited with hatred he mustered all his strength into….

one word.

"Lucy."

 _Could he really have saved her? Doubtful . He didn't get a chance to dodge. There was so much…. Blood._

His world was dark. He knew it wasn't because he had died. It's because he had failed, just like he thought. It was dark because his head was now on the table and the day had started over… again.

Somehow he felt even worse for trying as hard as he did. Lucy died. The thought of her falling to the street like one of Juvia's plushies sickened him. He could fade away in sorrow at the unreachable possibility that his head was playing tricks on him, and it was just a dream.

He would just have to change the entire day until he was successful: No matter what it took.


End file.
